I managed to prize myself away from Simonstown this last weekend for a long awaited visit to Wild Olive Farm in Stilbaai. Situated on the banks of the Goukou river, the delightful vegetable farm is owned by Karen and John Harding, who have imbued a whole lot of love and care into their piece of heaven. According to the local vet, even Oscar the horse has been relishing the fruits of their labour. It’s showing in his midriff – so cute!

I was chomping at the bit to walk around the vegetable gardens but after eventually arriving in the dark, had to wait till morning. In the meantime, we prepared the most delicious paper-thin pizzas in their pizza oven (which was once used when they ran a restaurant from the farm). After piling on spinach, tomatoes and basil just picked from the garden, I started to peel the garlic that I had brought with me. Karen promptly told me to put my Chinese stuff away and pulled out a knobbly bulb covered in earth. It was sweet and delicately pungent.

My son asked for banana and off she went again to pick one from the banana tree. It was quite unreal, but I lapped up every moment and the pizzas were the best ever.

We spent the next morning collecting newly laid eggs and whisking parsley, chives and rocket into the finest scrambled eggs; snipping elongated Thai brinjals and snake beans off to add to our curry potjie and collecting clippings of lettuces, radishes, cucumbers and an entire patch of rhubarb.

And when we were all done with that, we spent an afternoon picking and eating the juiciest figs and yellow cling peaches and did plenty of oohing at the sight of the first quince of the season.

No one describes it better than Michael Pollen, who writes about the places where nature and culture intersect on our plates, in our farms and gardens and the entire environment, in his books The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: 

“Ripe vegetables were magic to me. Unharvested, the garden bristled with possibility. I would quicken at the sight of a ripe tomato, sounding its redness from deep amidst the undifferentiated green. To lift a bean plant's hood of heart-shaped leaves and discover a clutch of long slender pods handing underneath could make me catch my breath.”
 
So yes, no restaurant talk from me this week, but I just had to share this with you. It was such a breath of fresh air!
 
Happy eating!
Abigail

Photograph: Skanska Matupplevelser